The Mixologists, Standing Toe-to-Toe With the Chefs

As we’ve stated emphatically in the past, we’re pretty excited about the chef lineup at the LUCKYRICE Night Market at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Susur Lee, Charles Phan, Paul Qui, Angelo Sosa, Eddie Huang, David Myers, Sang Yoon and Dale Talde (to name a few of the 20) will be serving plates at a walk-around tasting on the hotel’s Boulevard Pool Deck. Tickets canstill be purchased here.

But dishes like Huang’s char siu bao and Talde’s perilla leaf salad with bacon and tamarind caramel need something special to wash them down. Enter a superstar crew of master mixologists who will equally be raising their game for the big event on June 23.

Along with star mixologists from The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Duggan McDonnell, Tobin Ellis and Tony Abou-Ganim will be on hand to serve two cocktails each, with one based around the Festival’s presenting sponsor Bombay Sapphire East. Abou-Ganim, a world-renowned barman who lives in Vegas, is pumped to be using the Asian-inspired gin, particularly because he was on the team that created it.

“I love Sapphire and the addition of lemongrass and black peppercorns just adds another layer of complexity that lends itself to complex cocktails,” he says. “With the Bubbling Rose, I am using the classic French 75 as a template, but making wonderful hibiscus syrup that plays beautifully off the lemongrass in the Sapphire East.”

He will also be serving the 430, a classic Abou-Ganim summertime cooler that is adapted from a recipe that placed him second at a world cocktail competition. It is a refreshing blend of Bacardi O, fresh lemon and guava with just a hint of Campari.

BarMagic of Las Vegas Principal Tobin Ellis has 22 years of bartending experience and is a 6-time National Mixology Champion. He’s heading to the Night Market to serve a complex drink called the Hop Hop (Bombay Sapphire EAST® gin, ginger, yuzu, Looza pear nectar). He joins San Francisco based mixologist and journalist Duggan McDonnell. McDonnell, who has over a decade’s worth of experience behind the stick is doing an East-meets-West spin with his Gentleman’s Delight (Bombay Sapphire EAST® gin, bianco vermouth, fresh lemon juice, tonic, cucumbers, Angostura bitters).

And like their counterparts in the kitchen, the mixolgists too are excited to be hanging out with such a diverse and accomplished range of culinary talent. “I would have to say Jet Tila,” says Abou-Ganim excitedly about the legendary Thai chef from Los Angeles making the trip. “I did a pop up dinner with him in Las Vegas at Origin of India and he made some crazy street food that I attempted to pair my cocktails with. Let’s just say that Jet’s food was amazing and I look forward to trying a Bubbling Rose with whatever he’s conjuring up.”

And we are sure the crowd will be into that pairing as well. Well, among another two dozen dishes on the offer.